Leica article (short): need GOOD English translation

[jimmy pro]

Can someone who's a native speaker of German please translate this short article? I went the Babelfish route but I'm sure I'm missing key points. Thanx to whoever.

Jim Provenzano

LINK TO ARTICLE

[starwatcher]

Hi Jimmy,

in a summary: Leica again in crisis for the actual business year as a result of mismanagement by Steve Lee. After a short period of recovery Leica will show minor earnings only versus 170MM Euro slightly increased business volume as per fiscal year end (eo March 08).
For the first half year (2007/2008) result was 6.5MM Euro. Losses are expected for the actual business year.
Lee annoyed dealers, unsettled customers, called his subordinates "fu***ing people" etc etc. Dealers had been informed that Leica intended to proceed without them.
On Feb 19th Lee had to withdraw immediately, succeeded by Kaufmann...

That's it... no real news, standard allegations, some kind of retaliation by the German Manager Magazine...

Hope this good ENOUGH

best - Klaus

[Photon42]

(excuses for cutting it slightly, I am in a hurry ...)

Leica again facing a crisis ...

Camera manufacturer Leica is facing rogue waters. For the current reporting period, insiders estimate Leica to be in the reds, regarding to information from Manager Magazine.
The downturn development is the outcome of mismanagemant from former Leica CEO Steven K. Lee.

After a short period of slightly increasing revenues (EUR 170 Mio), Leica will show only a very small profit for the current reporting period, ending March 31st. This is reported by MM in its latest edition from Friday, 25th.

For the first half hear's period 2007/2008 Leica has presented a profit of EUR 6.5 Mio. However, for the current reporting period, insiders estimate Leica to be in the reds, regarding to information from Manager Magazine.

The downturn development is the outcome of mismanagemant from former Leica CEO Steven K. Lee. The sino-american has demotivated employees, scrared off dealers, angered providers and unsettled clients.

I leave this insulting examples as a quote:
"Unter anderem beschimpfte er seine Untergebenen mit Verbalinjurien wie "fucking people" und "disabled farmers".

He let dealers know will will be fine without them in future.

After 15 month being CEO of Leica, he had to give way to Andreas Kaufmann, being the controlling shareholder of Leica.

[leob]

I´ve read trough both translations and they are pretty much on the spot and correct
good work but bad news for leica.

[tobey bilek]

He he certainly knows how to get the best from the organization. Maybe he thought he could do it without team building?

[leob]

according to the article Steven K. Lee was the total worst-case for leica,
no CEO should tell their dealers to fuck off because leica would be get on without them (how??). Good luck that now someone with far more knowledge and sense for customers seems to be in charge.

[rob_x2004]

Surely someone "appointed" Lee. Hows their good sense, and now they are shooting the guy? Sorry Ive run out of cynical smilies.

[marknorton]

That person who appointed Lee was Kaufmann himself - they met at some holiday resort in South Carolina if I recall.

Maybe it was having to personally sign all those letters of apology which sent Lee over the edge, but thinking that the person running Best Buy could move to Leica without some sort of dislocation was, in my view, naieve.

[Photon42]

appointing people is not exact science, obviously. I'd say the reaction of Kaufmann was rather quick, given that a certain period is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions. This usually means quite a bit did go not well. To what extend all the eye-catching quotations are correct, is not clear.

Mark, I'm interested to learn, where you got the information that Kaufmann did not expect any shift? To me it seemed the direction and certainly the means were slightly off in the perspective of Mr. K. The latter however presents himself in press articles as quite a entrepreneur, so there's hope.

[kdemas]

As with any new hire you never quite know what you are getting until they are on the job and relating to the team. I am sure SL probably came across one way and may have been entirely different once in the breech.

On the bright side I believe management is taking a nice "long view" of things now, something that is critical for a small company to do. It's ok to sneak into the red for a time if you're setting up a sustainable strategy, something that hopefully is being done as we speak. From all I've read from Mr. Kaufman I see nothing that is a major red flag for me, in fact I am happy that he expressed his desire to really set the company on the right path for the long haul. Short term fixes are nice but often just that, short term.

Kent